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Archives for March 2012

Royals Continue Eyeing Catching Help

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The Royals completed a trade for Humberto Quintero this afternoon, but the club isn't necessarily done yet. They continue looking for catching depth, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. 

The Royals are short on catching, since Salvador Perez underwent a knee operation and will be sidelined for months. Yesterday I outlined some options catching options GM Dayton Moore might have interest in pursuing. Brayan Pena and Quintero figure to share the Major League catching duties, but Moore seeks Triple-A depth, Rosenthal writes.

Padres Extend Nick Hundley

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The Padres and catcher Nick Hundley agreed to terms on a three-year extension, the team announced. The deal covers the 2012-14 seasons and includes a club option for 2015. Athletes First represents Hundley, who drew praise from his new GM.

“Nick has developed into one of our club’s core players,” Josh Byrnes said. “He impacts the game on both offense and defense and has evolved into a leader on the field and in the clubhouse.”

Nick Hundley - Padres

Hundley had agreed to a one-year, $2MM salary via arbitration this offseason and was on track for free agency following the 2014 season. This means San Diego extends its control of Hundley by up to one season with today's agreement. Hundley will earn $2MM in 2012, $3MM in 2013 and $4MM in 2014, MLB.com's Corey Brock reports (Twitter links). The club option is worth $5MM and doesn't include a buyout, so it's a three-year, $9MM deal. 

Hundley has a .255/.314/.420 career line in four MLB seasons, including a .288/.347/.477 line last year. 72% of stolen base attempts against the 28-year-old have been successful to this point in his career. 

As Mike Axisa pointed out when talks heated up over the weekend, catchers such as Kurt Suzuki (four years, $16.25MM), Yadier Molina (four years, $15.5MM), Carlos Ruiz (three years, $8.85MM) and Chris Iannetta (three years, $8.3MM) signed extensions when they had between three and four years of service time. Iannetta and Ruiz were likely comparables for Hundley's deal.

Corey Brock of MLB.com first reported the deal. Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

Jason Bourgeois, Humberto Quintero Traded

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Jason Bourgeois and Humberto Quintero of the Astros have been traded, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports (all Twitter links). The Nationals have been linked to Bourgeois while the Royals and Phillies are known to be looking for catching depth. The Royals have been trying to trade for Quintero, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com tweets.

Yankees Notes: Pettitte, Hughes, Nova, Damon

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The latest on the Yankees…

  • Before Andy Pettitte signed with the Yankees, Lance Berkman tried to recruit the left-hander for the Cardinals, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Berkman said he was in regular contact with Pettitte and would have approached the front office if he had obtained the go-ahead from his friend and former teammate.
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post wonders if the Yankees will look to extend Phil Hughes or Ivan Nova to a Derek Holland-like extension in order to cap costs and avoid MLB's luxury tax. 
  • There was a split between upper management and the field staff over whether to sign Johnny Damon or Raul Ibanez, Tom Verducci of SI.com writes. Damon told the Yankees he would play for whatever they were offering Ibanez, but it wasn't enough.
  • Agent Scott Boras says Damon has received nibbles, but no offers. “We have heard from teams who say 'We have interest in the guy but we want to see what our players are going to do,'" Boras said.

NL East Notes: Vizcaino, Phillies, Mets, Lannan

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Earlier today MLBTR's Tim Dierkes reviewed the Marlins' busy offseason. Here are some more links from the NL East…

  • Braves GM Frank Wren told reporters that reliever Arodys Vizcaino will miss the 2012 season after undergoing Tommy John ligament replacement surgery. The 21-year-old right-hander appeared in 17 games with the Braves last year and entered the season as the 40th-best prospect in MLB, according to Baseball America.
  • The Phillies could start the season with prospect Freddy Galvis at second base, or explore the trade market for alternatives. ESPN.com’s Buster Olney hears from rival executives that there’s a short list of veteran middle infielders available in trades. Maicer Izturis, Alberto Callaspo, Chris Getz and Blake DeWitt appear to be options for teams seeking infield depth. 
  • Even though they're short on left-handed relief, the Mets are unlikely to sign C.J. Nitkowski, Hong-Chih Kuo or Dontrelle Willis, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com reports.
  • Jayson Stark of ESPN.com hears the Nationals "still have a lot of motivation" to trade John Lannan and his $5MM salary (Twitter link).

Team And Transaction-Only Feeds

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If you prefer your MLBTR fix limited to only your favorite team, we've got you covered.  Below are links to our team Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds.

AL East

AL Central

AL West

NL East

NL Central

NL West

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

Offseason In Review: Miami Marlins

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The Marlins quieted skeptics by signing three of the top 20 free agents, improving the chances of a winning season under manager Ozzie Guillen as their new ballpark opens.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

The Marlins made some noise this winter.  They've associated with Miami rather than all of Florida, marked by an interesting new logo.  They've finally got a baseball-only stadium, complete with a retractable roof and an aquarium behind home plate.  They've got baseball's most colorful manager, too.  The team's eventful offseason began with a trade to acquire manager Ozzie Guillen from the White Sox for a trio of prospects.  Jhan Marinez and Osvaldo Martinez aren't considered top prospects, but they are potential useful pieces.  The commitment to Guillen was probably as much about generating buzz as it was about finding the best possible leader.

Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest clearly had a mandate to push the team's payroll to new heights by signings the best players available.  Extra money was suddenly burning a hole in the Marlins' pocket, but they were limited to what was available in the store this particular winter.  I mentioned in October that the Marlins' biggest needs were the rotation, center field, and third base, but the best two free agents were first basemen.

The Marlins kicked off the Winter Meetings by overpaying Heath Bell.  The 34-year-old closer continued to rack up saves last year, but his strikeout rate dropped signficantly.  Beinfest, typically so good at finding cheap closers, paid a major premium for the save statistic for a reliever who may have begun his decline.  Jonathan Papelbon was the only other reliever to sign for three or more years this offseason.

In the case of Jose Reyes, the Marlins' creativity was wise.  They pursued him aggressively, pushing Hanley Ramirez's questionable shortstop defense to the hot corner.  Ramirez seems better-suited for third base at this point in his career, and a decent season from him would top any third baseman the Marlins could have acquired.  Reyes represented the rare available shortstop in his prime, and he'll be worth the money if the Marlins can just keep him moderately healthy.

The Marlins needing starting pitching badly, with Javier Vazquez showing no interest in playing in 2012.  They targeted Buehrle or C.J. Wilson, and Wilson's agent Bob Garber said the Marlins "would not let it go."  The Marlins were rightly willing to commit significantly more to Wilson than Buehrle, but Wilson took a discount to go to the Angels.  That left Buehrle as the best available free agent starter, but only for a couple of days until Yu Darvish would be posted.  The Marlins were never connected to Darvish, preferring the dependable, unspectactular Buehrle.

The Winter Meetings also included the Marlins' pursuit of Albert Pujols.  Acquiring Pujols would have meant trading Gaby Sanchez, and a useful trade chip would have been welcome given the team's remaining needs.  The Angels overshadowed the Marlins' Meetings by inking Pujols and Wilson on the final day.  The Marlins were apparently willing to offer $200MM+ to Pujols, but showed little interest in Prince Fielder.

Buehrle would effectively replace Vazquez in the team's 2012 rotation, but Beinfest (and perhaps Guillen) couldn't resist pulling Zambrano out of an ugly situation in Chicago.  Despite Zambrano's complete lack of trade value, the Marlins gave up a pitcher of value for him in Volstad.  Maybe everyone wins from a change of scenery, but Volstad is probably the better pitcher right now and is under control for 2013.  This trade was a head-scratcher from the Marlins side. 

Center field was addressed internally with Emilio Bonifacio, a reasonable gamble given the lack of alternatives on the market.  The Marlins pursued Yoenis Cespedes aggressively, but they wanted a commitment of more than four years.  Plus, Cespedes doesn't necessarily fit with a win-now mentality.  The Reyes signing certainly improved the Marlins, and losing Vazquez and Volstad for Buehrle and Zambrano is probably a wash in the rotation.  Although the Marlins overpaid for Bell, they needed some kind of bullpen addition since Juan Carlos Oviedo (the former Leo Nunez) is a question mark due to identity fraud.  With healthy seasons from Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez, the Marlins should be in the thick of the NL East race.

Offseason In Review: Toronto Blue Jays

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As speculation and rumors about splashy acquisitions continued to swirl, the Blue Jays opted for bullpen improvements this offseason.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Tim Redding, Omar Vizquel, Kyle Phillips, Nelson Figueroa, Robert Coello, Brian Bocock, Aaron Laffey.

Trades and Claims

Extensions

Notable Losses

The Blue Jays will have a better bullpen in 2012 and their offense was strong to begin with, yet it’s unclear if the back of their rotation will be effective enough to vault the club into contention this year.

To the surprise and frustration of many Blue Jays fans, GM Alex Anthopoulos passed on Prince Fielder, C.J. Wilson, Ryan Madson and the rest of the offseason’s top free agents. The Rangers won the bidding for Yu Darvish, but the Blue Jays appear to have placed a relatively competitive bid for the right-hander and at times it seemed that he would be headed to Toronto. The Blue Jays were also reportedly in on trade talks for starters Michael Pineda and Gio Gonzalez, but didn't appear to feel comfortable with the asking price for controllable, young pitchers.

Instead, the back of the Blue Jays’ projected rotation contains one pitcher who has appeared in five MLB games since 2008 and another pitcher who has appeared in ten big league games over the course of his entire career. Dustin McGowan has tremendous stuff and Henderson Alvarez impressed in his late-2011 cameo, but baseball’s best teams have more certainty at the back of their rotations. I still believe acquiring one more starter with the stuff to succeed in the AL East would have reduced risk without preventing the organization's best prospects from developing.

Highly-regarded Double-A starters Chad Jenkins, Deck McGuire and Drew Hutchison provide the team with promising internal alternatives that presumably affected the Blue Jays' willingness to bid aggressively on available pitching this winter. The prospects could be called on if a Blue Jays starter suffers an injury, but they probably need at least a couple more months of minor league development first. In the meantime, Aaron Laffey and Kyle Drabek provide rotation depth, but given Drabek's command issues last year (55 walks in 78 2/3 innings) additional Triple-A seasoning seems to be in order. 

The bullpen, an ongoing source of concern in 2011, received a makeover. Anthopoulos traded for Sergio Santos, re-acquired Jason Frasor and signed Darren Oliver and Francisco Cordero. Though Oliver is now 41, the left-hander remains effective. And though Cordero showed signs of decline in 2011, the Blue Jays aren't asking him to close or paying him like a closer.

It mustn't have been easy to send minor league starter Nestor Molina and his 148K/16BB ratio to Chicago, but the Santos deal seems likely to pay off for Anthopoulos. Santos, a former shortstop prospect in Toronto's system, excelled as Chicago's closer in 2011 and is under team control through 2017. Similarly, parting with Myles Jaye and Daniel Webb to re-acquire Frasor makes sense for a prospect-rich team seeking late-game stability. Toronto's front office improved the bullpen considerably over the winter.

The Blue Jays extended their control over Brandon Morrow with a three-year, $21MM extension and locked Casey Janssen up for two years and $5.9MM. The Blue Jays believe Morrow can reach another level after showing promise in his first two seasons out of the rotation, so extending him and creating potential savings for two free agent seasons was a natural choice. Even if his performance remains constant, the Blue Jays should enjoy extended control at a reasonable rate.

After months of speculation, the Blue Jays didn't end up adding a big-name bat such as Fielder or David Ortiz. Yet they ranked sixth in MLB in scoring a year ago and should still be powerful in 2012. Two-time defending MLB home run leader Jose Bautista anchors a lineup that will also include Brett Lawrie, Kelly Johnson and Colby Rasmus for a full season. The Blue Jays retained two powerful players by exercising Edwin Encarnacion's option and offering Johnson arbitration.

Anthopoulos chose to rely on Adam Lind at first base and either Eric Thames or Travis Snider in left field. Lind needs to get on base more and the Blue Jays need to find out what they have in Snider and Thames. Though there's some hope at first base and left field, the Blue Jays will have to move on at these positions in 2013 if Lind, Thames and Snider don't hit.

The Blue Jays lost a highly-regarded defensive catcher in Jose Molina and acquired another one in Jeff Mathis. There's every reason to expect unimpressive offensive numbers from Mathis, a lifetime .194/.257/.301 hitter. But someone has to spell J.P. Arencibia and top prospect Travis d'Arnaud needs to play every day to further refine his game. If d'Arnaud impresses at Triple-A he could earn a callup when rosters expand in September.

The AL East doesn't look any easier this year, but three of its teams could qualify for the playoffs under baseball's new postseason system. That gives the Blue Jays legitimate hope for 2012 and beyond. There's a sense that the Blue Jays are set to end their run of mediocre finishes and emerge as a contending team before long. If enough breaks right it could even happen this year.

Rangers Close To Extension With Derek Holland

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The Rangers are "on the verge" of signing left-hander Derek Holland to a contract extension, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.  The deal would be for at least five years (though the 2016 season), overriding Holland's near-league minimum salary for this season and covering his three arbitration years and his first year of free agency. 

We heard in December that the two sides were discussing a five-year extension with an option for a sixth year, though talks were thought to be shelved in January.  MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith considered that extensions given to such pitchers as Jon Lester, Ricky Romero and Yovani Gallardo (five years for around $30MM) were "unavoidable points of reference" for a possible Holland extension.

The Rangers have also signed Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus to extensions this offseason, though those contracts were just for two and three years, respectively, and only covered each player's arbitration seasons.  Obviously Texas has more interest in locking Holland up for the longer-term, given that Cruz is 31 and Andrus could be made expendable in a few years by top shortstop prospect Jurickson Profar.

Holland, 25, was a key part of the Texas rotation last season, posting a 3.95 ERA in 32 starts with a 46.4% ground ball rate and a 2.42 K/BB ratio.  He also threw a gem in Game Four of the World Series, shutting out the Cardinals on just two hits over 8 1/3 innings.  Holland is represented by Martini Sports Management.

Quick Hits: Padres, Nishioka, Giants, DeWitt

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Here's a wrap-up of news from around baseball as we head into Tuesday….

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